Hi there,

I've bought BSG a short while ago and played it yesterday the first time with five friends. I can say that we all enjoyed it very much and I am sure it will be a game we will often times come back to.

But in one point I am not sure if this is correct or maybe an error of the edition I owned. The green (strategic) skill cards seem mainly to comprise of one and the same card type (i. e. "Executive Order"). There is no overview in the manual where I could check out how many cards of a given type have to be present in the game (the first of two little drawbacks in this fantastic game. The second drawback is the manual itself where you have to search for every rule, because it is embedded in the text - for example order of hierarchy for the presidency or the admiral post).

Can someone tell me how many of these should be in the game box?

A few years ago as I bought Twilight Imperium 2nd (or 3rd? I don't remember yet) Edition I've got a game copy in which many technology cards were doubled and other missed alltogether. Thanks to FFG I got the missing cards shortly after I requested them at their support.

Now I'm not sure if the same has happened now with my BSG copy.

Thanks for your replies in advance.

Well, I'm not sure how many of each there are off hand, but there is only 2 different cards for each skill color. The numbers on the cards are all different but green for example should have a mix of Executive Order cards and Declare Emergency cards.

Of course if you are saying that you ONLY have Executive Order cards, then yeah something is definitely wrong.

This file should answer all your questions about skill cards. Hope it helps,

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/38351

Hey thanks for your replies. I think there were also some of the Declare Emergeny cards, so I am much more calmer now. Thanks also for the link.

Also, in every skill deck there is one 5, two 4s, four 3s, six 2s, and eight 1s. If you have the five, then no one else does. Also, if you happen to have lots of Strategic planning (3-5 tactics), then you may want to conserve them a bit because you might not run into any for quite a while.

While that is good information, I am really wishing I hadn't known that. I've been actively avoiding playing the meta game, but that information is now going to affect how I play. I'm not mad at you, more disappointed in myself. Though I was bound to figure it out eventually.

JerusalemJones said:

Lol, I was thinking the same thing when I read that. I will especially look at value 5 cards MUCH differently now, especially if I'm a Cylon.

I knew about the 5 cards being one of a kind, but not about the rest. Knowing that only a third of the deck is the "high cards" has made a difference.

Yeah, ditto to all of the above. I didn't realize how rare the 4 or 5 skill cards were. I guess that's the price you pay for playing a game too much or seeking out compliments to the experience (fan forums, discussing strategy with other enthusiasts etc): you learn the better strategies for each side and you stop making as many mistakes as you did the first time.

That said though, I think that because there are so many ways to win or lose, it's much harder to work out the 'best' strategy for BSG than other games. That's one thing I appreciate about it, there are so many X factors that nobody can really guarantee that they'll play the best way every time.

Grrrr, now I know why we could not draw any of the Strategic planing when our cylon in Brig kept 5 of them and did not wanted to reveal himself.